Storyboard

Scenes for Trailer

Setting, Costumes and Props

Settings/Locations

These three shots show the location of where my trailer will mainly be shot. Due to the several different angles and shots I will be using it will create an illusion that the area is slightly different meaning the audience will not be bored watching it. I would also like to shoot my trailer around the time when it is starting to get dark or just before that time to help create and atmosphere amongst the audience whilst they watch the trailer. This is following the conventions of several social realist films such as Kidulthood or Adulthood, the shots that are being used above are similar to some of the areas that appear in the films I have done my research on.

Costume

The costumes/clothing the characters in my trailer will be wearing will be somewhat similar to the clothing the characters are wearing in the shot above. The shot is from the film Kidulthood and because it is one of the main media products I had researched I want my media product to be quite similar to it, which will be following the conventions of the genre again.

Props

For my trailer I don't really want to use any props, due to the reason being if I was to use any props, they would be along the lines of some kind of weapon, which could lead to some difficulties filming in public even if it is a fake. Other than that the only form of props that my trailer would include would be mobile phones and nothing else. I want to be able to keep the trailer as simple as possible but still be able to make the trailer an enjoyable experience to watch.

Website Analysis

Ill Manors Website

Homepage: The homepage for the Ill Manors website is a strong front page. It instantly creates an atmosphere and mood for the film, which makes the audience feel like they need to explore the website. The heading at the top of the page saying "ON BLU-RAY. DVD, DOWNLOAD AND ON-DEMAND NOW" is a good way to get the attention of the audience and let them know about the films latest release, so before the film was released in theatres the heading would have had the release date on it whereas now it is telling the audience that the film is out on other types of media platforms, using the advantage of media convergence.

Interactive Site: The whole website is an interactive playground, using the arrows on either side of the image on the website you can move from the homepage to the page that seems to be empty but when you hover over certain areas with the mouse you discover there are links on the page. One of the links I have shown on the screenshot is the social network link, after hovering over the small pictures of the Facebook and Twitter the choice to click on them comes on. This is a good way of using media convergence because it is linking the consumers between there social network site and the film which makes them use the social network sites for more than one of the areas that come under the Users and Gratifications website such as Diversion and Surveillance. 

Conventional Uses: Although this website is a little different from usual film websites that you may come across, it does use conventions that other film websites use. These conventions have been highlighted in a red box in the image on the left. The conventions I have highlighted are the tabs on the left hand side, which allow the audience to see clearly what they can view on the website, the easier to navigate the happier the audience are which helps build a wider fan base, I have also highlighted the title of the film as well as the poster in the background. The title is a key part of the website because it clarifies what the films name is, it is also like a brand identity which helps the audience recognise the film instantly. The poster is something a lot of film websites include on the website, it links into the brand identity of the film but this website have used a slightly incognito way of incorporating the poster into the website. The credit block is also an important part of film websites, typically the credit block appears at the bottom of the page and this website has followed the convention.

Trailer Analysis

My Brother the Devil

@0:22 - At this point of the trailer for "My Brother the Devil" the audience is exposed to the equilibrium between the two male characters. They are both smiling and it doesn't seem like anything is wrong. Also at this point the non-diegetic music is quite calm and relaxed which helps the audience realise that this is a state of normality. But there is a voice-over saying "the strong man is the who can control himself when he's angry" which gives the connotations of some form of danger that may occur in the upcoming scenes.

@0:38 - From this point of the trailer the audience is exposed to some form of disequilibrium, the fact the word "gangster" is mentioned connotes danger and violence. The fact that the three are handing out alcohol to each other gives the audience the idea that  the state of normality has been disrupted. Then this is followed by other shots showing how the young male is getting himself into a worse position by disrupting the state of normality even more.

@1:35 - Now we, as the audience see that there are several attempts to resolve this disequilibrium, but some of these attempts end up making more conflict and disruption to the equilibrium. The trailer is a build up to the climax where the audience start seeing all of the attempts to resolve all of the disruptions to the equilibrium.

Target Audience Research

My target audience will fall into band E on the demographic table, which includes people such as unemployed people, students, pensioners and casual workers. Clearly the majority of my audience will be students and a small minority will be made up of casual workers because they are the type of people most likely to watch a film based around social realism. On top of that, my target audience will be part of the explorers group and/or the reformers group as they are individuals who "seek discovery" and are people who have some form of "social awareness".

Wordle on what films they like that fall under social realism:

As you can see from both the quantitative results, my target audience will mainly be targeted at teenagers that are both male and female. Although the chart shows there are more females that had answered the questionnaire it doesn't necessarily  mean that more girls will want to watch the film. The theme of my trailer would have to be based around racism as the majority of people had chosen out of the other topics. Looking  at the qualitative results, I created a wordle to show me what films people had enjoyed watching. The films Kidulthood and Adulthood appeared quite a few times in the answers and had shown up on the worlde as did This is England and American History X. This is a good way to find out if my trailer should be somewhat similar to these films mentioned which would have a bigger and better appeal to the audience.

My audience will fall into Band E if we take a look at the demographic table. Being aimed at people who are very similar to the character(s) in my products (Trailer, Film Poster and Magazine Cover), the majority of my  audience will most likely be students and/or casual workers. The fact that both groups of people earn little to no money means that the film will not be overly priced in theatres and cinemas.

The audience I am targeting fall into the explorers category due to the fact that they will be watching a film that isn't a Hollywood blockbuster, instead they are exploring the film that is made by an independent company and production company. Not just the fact that my audience are only choosing an indie production over a Hollywood blockbuster, if you take a closer look, the explorers category states "Younger demographic students" which already links into the demographic band my audience fall into it. 

Initial Narrative Outline

Summary of Initial Research

Over the month we have looked at several key areas for the research stage of the coursework. The terminology we use is ideal to describe our work and using media terminology allows the work to be analysed in detail. For example using the correct terminology to annotate and analyse the posters it allows me to think about how I could create my own poster for my film trailer by following conventions of movie posters and genres. We also looked at some theories by Todorov and Propp as well as genre theories which helped us think of some brief narrative ideas following the theories of disequilibrium, stock characters and ideas about genres. Mise en scene was a important thing to look at as it links into narrative, it helps tie together a story in a trailer depending on what is included within the frame for each individual shot such as lighting and cinematography, props and costume, camera works, actors movement and setting. Creating a production company of our own meant that we could create our products at an almost professional level alongside making our trailers look more professional, it also helped us understand what we need to be able to do behind the scenes working as independent production companies like directing, editing and planning. Prior to doing all the research we did a skill audit where we looked at our individual strengths in producing different media texts with different types of desktop publishing software, this helped us find our weaknesses and allowed us to create clear targets so we can strengthen our skills in these areas.

Poster Analysis and Comparison

As you can see although all three posters have similarities, there is a slight challenge of conventions in the Ill Manors poster. Comparing the "This is England" poster with the "Adulthood" poster you see that both posters are very similar in style, such as having the wide shot of all the main characters against a background which is slightly contrasting; this being done so the characters stand out. The poster for "This is England" is a the only poster which hasn't been re-imaged in post production whereas the "Adulthood" poster and the "Ill Manors" posters have been photo shopped in a very similar way, for example the clouds have been edited to add a bit more depth to the whole frame. It is clear to see that these posters aren't photo shopped too much because it will end up losing the realism of the poster, which would result in making the film look more like a mainstream Hollywood film instead of a Social Realist film. All the posters use a similar style of typography for the titles, similar layout for the witness reports from expertise but, what "Ill Manors" doesn't follow is the wide shot of all the characters; instead the poster has a key image of the protagonist of the film taking up most of the frame, standing behind the title of the film whereas the other two posters have the characters standing underneath the title. This is proving how the production companies are trying to change the conventions a little bit so the audience are enticed to watch the film because it looks a little different to what they are used to.

Conventions on Drama in Social Realist films

Research on "Genre"

What is "Genre"?

The word "genre" is a French word which is translated to "type". A lot of people believe that genre is a way of grouping films together that have similarities but the key concept of genre is a lot more complex than that; grouping films together is only a brief definition of genre.

Genre links into audience before the film has even been produced, film producers and directors want to please the audience and majority of the time, audiences get bored of the same genre being repeated over and over again, this is why producers and directors want to think about genre and be able to change it slightly to attract and please their target audience. This links into Hybrid/Mixed Genres which is what is being done a lot in the modern day of film production. It basically means merging two genres together to make a better film on the whole, for example taking the horror genre and mixing it in with comedy to create a Comedy Horror (Scary Movie, Shaun of the Dead... etc.)

Genre also allows production companies to be able to follow generic conventions of previous genres, this is so the films genre is easily recognisable by audiences, meaning the film would actually be viewed in cinemas and would sell once it is on sale in retail stores. Eventually some production companies become specialised in certain genres, such as "Lionsgate" are now specialised in doing horror/thriller due to the fact that they already have links with directors that do horror films as well as the actors and the equipment.

Classifications and Regulaions

U - The Universal classification means that the film is suitable for all ages four and above, it should be a positive film offering counterbalances to any kind of violence or threat. The film should refrain from: discrimination, drug use, extreme horror, dangerous imitable behaviour, bad language, sexual nudity/activities and violence. The outcome of the film should be positive.

PG - The Parental Guidance classification means that the film can be watched by children from the age of eight and over but parental guidance is recommended to consider whether the film is suitable for the child and whether the theme or content would upset the child. This classification makes films refrain from: discrimination unless its disapproved or if its in
an educational context, drug use, extreme horror (fantasy theme should be used for horror scenes), dangerous behaviour, bad language (only mild bad language may be used), sexual nudity/activities and violence.

12/12A - Suitable for twelve years and over, Exactly the same criteria are used to classify works at ‘12A’ and ‘12’. These categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Nobody under the age of 12 may enter the film screening unless they are accompanied by an adult and they feel that the film is suitable for the child.

15 - The 15 bbfc regulation basically disallows anyone under the age of 15 to watch a film in the cinema, it also disallows them to buy or rent a film or game which is regulated to 15 years old. This is because of regulatory companies believe some scenes or narratives aren't suitable for anyone under the age of 15.

18 - The 18 bbfc regulation pretty much allows people over the age of 18 to watch films and play games that contain strong violence, language, sexual content and a theme that may be unsuitable for anyone that is not legally an adult. These film screenings are strictly monitored in cinemas and ID checks are done when purchasing at a retail store.

R18 - The R18 regulation is even stricter than the normal 18 regulation. Items or films that are rated R18 must be sold in licensed sex shops or licensed cinemas that screen these types of movies which may contain extreme sexual content, violence and other certain things which may not be suitable for public advertisement.

Production Company Creation

A production company is essentially the platform a film is built on, without one, films will not be able to be produced at all. This is because the production company gets hold of all the equipment for the film such as: the actors, directors, special effects artists and everything else that goes on behind the scenes. So clearly I also need a production company to be able to produce my film. This also allows me to make my film trailer look more professional because it will instantly make it look more flashy by mentioning the production company but it will also give me a more professional feel to creating the trailer due to the fact I would feel that I need to think about budgets, equipment and actors; pretty much what an actual production company does.

This is the design I chose to make for my chosen Production Company, I decided to call it "Aperture Productions" because the films/videos are all shot with an open aperture, also it has a classy but catchy sound to it and I hope it will stay in peoples minds. Another reason I chose to use the word "Aperture" is because the image is a memorable image, its really simple to remember. I emailed this logo to my classmates and the feedback I got from them was really positive. I would like to use this for my film trailer because it would look good against a black background before or after the trailer finishes.

In order to fulfill the brief, what skills will you need to develop? Are there any areas in ICT you need to develop?

In order to fulfill the brief, I will need to develop my skills in movie maker or better quality DTP software such as avid or pinnacle studio, I will also have to improve my skills in storyboarding and make much more detailed, in depth plans of what I could do for my movie trailer. I would also have to increase my skills in sound recording and if I will be using Foley sounding which I haven’t used before, I will have to start practicing. Although I have had basic training in these areas I feel as if I have not yet mastered how to use these DTP software’s. I will definitely have to improve my skills in working independently, even though I will be getting people to help out during the filming period all of the planning and the editing will have to be done independently. 

Skill Audit

How does "The Birds" by A Hitchcock conform or subvert to theories of Todorov and Propp?

"The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock conforms to the theories of Todorov and Propp on a very extreme scale in my opinion. Todorov's theory claims that the narrative of a story usually starts off with an equilibrium where everything is as it should be. Then an event occurs which disrupts this normality creating a disequilibrium in the narrative causing things to get out of control, but this disequilibrium is sorted out and the damage is repaired to create a new equilibrium. In nearly every scene of "The Birds" this type of narrative happens; for example, when the blonde female character is waiting for Annie outside the school all is well and at harmonious peace, then the birds start to gather around the area that the character is in (the playground at this point), this disruption is spotted by the female causing a disruption which causes the female to tell Annie the kids should try and get away as fast as possible, as the kids run out the school the disequilibrium is created because the birds start attacking the children, eventually this disruption is removed when the birds stop attacking the characters ad leave the scene thus creating a new equilibrium.

This theory also links into Propp's theory which states every character has a narrative function. In most cases this theory only relates to fairy tales but "The Birds" does relate to this theory to some extent. The male character is seen as the hero due to the fact that he is the one trying to get rid of the disruption made by the birds; seeking a new equilibrium. The birds could be seen as the villain(s) by the audience because they are directly opposing what the hero is aiming to do. Then there is the princess who most likely is the young blonde female in "The Birds" because every time the male character does find a new equilibrium she is almost like a reward to him for protecting her from harm.

To me it seems like Alfred Hitchcock was aiming to create a very extreme representation of both theories and in all fairness the film does represent and showcase both theories very well. But as a film on the whole, the narrative is a little too obvious for my liking, only due to the fact that Todorov's theory is literally repeated over and over again in almost every single scene.